1. Field of the Invention
The following relates to a process for the use of sub-products of coffee in the production of proteins, vitamins and minerals, under processes of concentration and conservation of the mucilage and the pulp (husk) to obtain honey and/or flour of pulp (husk) of coffee industrially transformed in order to be used in products for human consumption, animal consumption, drugs, cosmetics or as raw material for the production of carbonate alcohol (ethanol).
Likewise, the following is related to the field of the food and/or agro industry, since it refers to the concentration of the mucilage and the pulp (husk) of coffee in an industrial, efficient, safe manner, with high quality standards, with an installed capacity that guarantees the necessary volumes necessary of end product to the customers with high profitability, which also guarantees sustenance in time as well as recovery of the water resources of the influence areas.
2. Description of Related Art
The handling of sub-products of coffee (mucilage and pulp) has always been considered as one of the problematic axes between producers and coffee specialized centers, notwithstanding at least three options of use have been found: as an element of the compost for fertilizers, as food for pigs or as raw material for producing ethanol. However, the possibility of using such sub-products of the coffee bean is limited taking into account that the product has a life about 10 hours, whereby it is strictly necessary to process the mucilage and the pulp (husk) before it is decomposed, which implies to make a logistic movement which guarantees the proper use of such sub-products.
Now, the coffee bean is an atypical fruit given that normally fruits are pealed, the pulp is consumed and the seed is disposed or sown. In the case of coffee, the seed is utilized, which is the one being processed and there is a step of drying, roasting and grinding, in order to obtain the coffee which is consumed worldwide, but the sub-products of such coffee bean are eliminated and disposed to the environment, which leads to a high contamination taking into account the degradation time thereof.
Actually, the processing of the coffee bean can be made by means of two methods wherein the first one is made through machinery in dry benefit, wherein the pulping stage is made with no water, wherein although such method is more eco-friendly, it is not very used in most of the countries, namely in the coffee producing ones which are located in the Ecuadorian region. The second method is carried out by the benefit of wetness, that is, using water, to which the quality of the coffee is attributed and corresponds to the most commonly used method in the state of the art. In this process after collecting the coffee, it is located in a receiving tank wherein the first sorting of the coffee by density is carried out, then it is pulped, followed by sorting. Later, the mucilage is removed, which can be carried out by several methods such as the elimination of mucilage by fermentation, sometimes accelerating the process by using an enzyme called pectinase, or using machinery. Next, the coffee bean is washed again with water and is sorted again by density, then the coffee receives a drying process in order to eliminate a large amount of the moisture that has been kept and subsequently it is packed.
In this regard, during the wet benefit of the coffee, sub-products and aqueous effluents are generated which due to the chemical and microbiological composition and by its physicochemical characteristics such as organic load, acidity and content of sediment materials, causing thereby changes on contact with water, and its properties affecting the viscosity of water, color, turbidity, transparency, temperature, odor, surface tensions and flavor, and the oxygen chemical and biological demand increases, causing a biological impact and imbalance in the water ecosystem. Such contamination and substantial reduction of the water consumption has been reduced by means of machines for removing the mucilage (belcosub), which are machines that allow to remove the mucilage in an eco-friendly manner. In this process, a viscous product with high content of solids is obtained, which is also highly contaminated due to its organic load equivalent to about 110.000 ppm (parts per million) of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), which also facilitates the conversion at an agricultural, industrial and livestock level and its proper use.
In the same manner, the mucilage of coffee is characterized by having large amounts of carbohydrates, reducing and non-reducing sugars and pectic components. Moreover, it features values of 0.95% protein, 0.08 fat and 0.45% ashes, and in greater proportion elements as K (potassium), Ca (calcium), Mg (magnesium) and P (phosphor) can be found. The caloric value of the mucilage is low, about 500 Kcal/Kg and it is mainly given by the content of carbohydrates.
Now, the protein of the pulp of coffee contains similar or higher amino acid levels than other products, such as cotton flour and soy flour. On the other hand, the pulp of coffee features generally higher concentrations of amino acids than that of corn but is deficient in sulfur amino acids. Also, it is important to note the relatively high content of lysine in the pulp, which is as high as the one in soy flour when expressed as mg/g nitrogen.
According to the above, actually the use of the mucilage and pulp of coffee has been suggested as organic fertilizer in the culture of the red California earthworm, food for pigs, and in the production of biofuels. However, traditionally this sub-products is disposed by pouring it in the creeks or rivers or being accumulated in large amounts, wherein the risk of environmental contamination is increased.
Thus, the residue waters of the coffee pulping and washing process, commonly known as honey water, are considered as one of the great organic contaminations in the coffee industry. The mature grape coffee features a physical composition such that the beans represent 20% of the fruit; accordingly, the pulping process generates 80% of disposal representing a high risk of impact on the environment if not properly treated. The pulping and washing process of 1 kg of coffee generates an amount of water and contaminant material equivalent to that produced by 6 people in one day (Pujol et al. 2001; Hernandez et al., 2000). The concentration of the organic contaminant products in the water being used in the wet benefit of coffee depends on the treatment given before these are re-integrated in a water course. The wet benefits are generally not isolated and in the water courses are contaminants with different origin such as agricultural, livestock activities or human waste.
In this regard, the state of the art contains a plurality of disclosures related to the processing of coffee beans or the fermentation thereof in order to obtain different products. Among such disclosures document KR 20110012653 can be found, which mentions a method for preparing a cosmetic composition containing lactobacilli, fermented coffee extract and being proportioned for improving the antioxidant capacity and to avoid the skin aging and wrinkles. This method for manufacturing a cosmetic composition containing lactobacilli and fermented coffee extract is composed by: a step of spraying the coffee beans and mixing 100 parts per weight of the coffee beans and from 450 to 500 parts per weight of distilled water to obtain a coffee bean solution, a step of agitating the coffee bean solution at 75 to 85° C. for 50 to 70 minutes, a step of cooling the solution from 30 to 35° C. in a closed state, a step of inoculating the solution after the inoculation of the initial volume of 1.3 lactobacilli and fermenting at 30 to 35° C. for 45 to 50 hours to obtain a fermentation liquid of Lactobacillus, a step of heating the fermentation liquid at 75 to 85° C. for 8 to 12 minutes, and a step of filtering the fermentation liquid, wherein the strain of lactobacillus is Lactobacillus bulgaricus. 
On the other hand, document WO 2006/098733 discloses a method and a kit for testing the fermentation rate, fermentation by products and fermentation completion of coffee mucilage, wherein such method consists in testing the fermentation rate of coffee by testing a sample of coffee suspended in water using at least one member of a group of disclosed substrates and test kits and, upon color formation, comparing the resulting color to a color scale to indirectly determine the fermentation rate, fermentation by products and fermentation completion. The corresponding kit comprises at least one of a pH testing strip, at least one ethanol testing strip, at least one lactic acid testing strip, and a thermometer.
Now, another disclosure is document MX/a/2008/002559, which relates to a method for treating coffee fruits with or without the pulp, wherein such method comprises the step of contacting the coffee fruits with a solution of a composition selected from the group consisting of active chorine-releasing inorganic and organic compositions, such as calcium oxychloride, dichloroisocyanuric acid and sodium and potassium salts thereof and trichloroisocyanuric acid diluted in a liquid vehicle, for a period of time sufficient to disinfect the coffee skin, pulp and beans, avoid fermentation thereof and neutralize metabolic chemical compositions that are detrimental to flavor, aroma and acidity degree of the coffee and to its quality.
Document EP 1715751 discloses a method for making a coffee composition, which comprises the steps of separating coffee beans from the pulp and husk of a coffee cherry, roasting the coffee beans, and adding dried pulp and/or husk of the coffee cherry to the roasted coffee beans. The invention described in this document also relates to a coffee composition comprising roasted coffee beans and pulp of a coffee cherry and/or husk of a coffee cherry, wherein said in invention relates to a coffee beverage comprising a coffee composition of the invention, and to the use of pulp and/or husk of a coffee cherry to modify the taste of a coffee composition made of coffee beans.
According to the documents existing in the state of the art related to the process of the coffee fruit and its sub-products, the problem to be solved is still the same, the conservation or proper preservation of the product for use in the above mentioned purposes, due to from its collection until its manipulation and stabilization no more than 10 hours can be elapsed, given that after such time, the mucilage and the pulp being to deteriorate since when a fruit is pealed its natural protection is eliminated initiating thereby a normal process of decomposition, which from a logistic handling point of view becomes a critical point which makes it difficult the effective treatment of such sub-products of coffee and its real use, taking into account that in terms of time of coffee benefit, the bean is the main actor, relegating to the background the treatment of sub-products, becoming thereby in a great storage and disposal problem, which are mostly disposed to the environment, contaminating it as previously indicated.
Similarly, the current research related to coffee, are focused on technify or improve the production process of coffee, its preparation or the quality of the coffee, which can be found in the documents related as prior art and mentioned above, which mention the mucilage but do not specifically or directly refer to such component but to the production or quality of the coffee in a general manner.
In this regard, there is a need in the state of the art for providing a proper method or process for processing the mucilage and the pulp of the coffee bean for obtaining products which can be used both for animals and humans, such as food, cosmetics, drugs, among others, which allows to avoid the contamination of the environment by preventing the waste of such coffee sub-products.